Recent years have seen an explosion in the popularity of microwave cooking and of foods packaged in containers especially adapted for such cooking. One of the earliest successes in this area was microwavable popcorn packaged in microwavable packages, and numerous patents have been issued on such packages.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,045, issued to Brandberg et al., discloses a popcorn packaged in a flexible and expandable package such as a gussetted bag formed from paper. The package is sealed to permit internal pressure to develop to expand the bag so that the corn has sufficient space for the increased volume after popping.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,425 to Brandberg et al., discloses as a combined popping and shipping package for popcorn a package composed of a dual compartmented container. The first compartment is relatively small and contains the charge of popcorn; the second compartment is larger and provided with pleats, folds or gussets to enable it to expand to hold the popped kernels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,573 to Borek discloses an expandable popcorn bag, one wall of which has a thermal insulating pad associated therewith to improve the popping performance of the popcorn by preventing heat loss from the package to the oven floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,332 to McHam discloses an expansible container for popping popcorn comprising a closed bag of flexible sheet material having its upper side provided with a pattern of weakness that serves as an excess vapor pressure release during the popping and which thereafter serves for convenient opening of the container so that it may be used as a serving tray.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,450,180 and 4,548,826 to Watkins disclose a popcorn bag formed from a flexible sheet material of collateral tubular configuration, i.e., comprising two parallel longitudinally extending sections communicating together at the center of the package. Substantially all of the popcorn and fat is placed within one tubular section and the other is maintained free of popcorn. During the popping, the empty tubular section is free to expand as it fills with popcorn.
U.S. Pat No. 4,461,031 to Blamer discloses a tubular bag for containing and microwave cooking popcorn. The bag has a closed bottom end, the bottom end having a strength against rupture that exceeds the rupture strength of a future closure at the mouth or upper end of the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,559 to Warnke discloses a bag designed to facilitate the separation of popcorn from unpopped kernels and providing a convenient bag for holding the popped corn while a person eats it. The bag has an outer bag of fine mesh and an inner bag of coarser mesh through which unpopped corn can pass, thereby separating it from the popped corn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,010 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,882 to Bohrer et al. disclose a microwave popcorn container formed from a single blank, e.g. of paperboard, having a bottom panel coated with a microwave interactive material adding heat to the popcorn to be cooked. The container is configured so that the popcorn kernels placed into it are spaced, on average, no more than the average diameter of one kernel away from the microwave interactive panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,337 to Cage et al. disclose a bag for cooking popcorn in a microwave oven. The bag has a bottom panel, a top panel, a back panel and inwardly folded gusseted side panels such that the bag can be flattened along the top edge opposite the bottom panel. The top edge seal opens before popping is completed to release steam and prevent the popped corn from becoming too chewy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,202 to Roccaforte discloses a package allowing the popping of popcorn in site within a pouch contained in a carton. The carton has a tear-away portion in its top panel which is removed when the package is put into the microwave oven. The pouch is folded in the carton so that the edges of the folded pouch are disposed beneath the opening formed by removal of the tear-away portion. The top panel of the carton includes marginal constraining portions bounding the opening which constrain the pouch once the popcorn has commenced popping.
The inventor's prior application U.S. Ser. No. 126,366, filed on Nov. 30, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,844, claims a combination of a bag and a mixture of edible popcorn ingredients in which the bag comprises two opposing side panels and an inwardly pleated bottom panel between said opposing side panels, the outside edges of said side panels being joined to one another and to the outside edges of said inwardly pleated bottom panel. In the bags described in U.S. Ser. No. 126,366, U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,844 portions of the opposing side panels were further joined to portions of the bottom panel so that the inside surface area of the said bottom panel was substantially less than the outside surface area of the bottom panel. This particular configuration was advantageous because it enabled the popcorn ingredients to be readily massed together for more efficient popping.
Until recently, there had been only limited success in cooking meat products by microwave, in part because of the difficulties in browning or crisping a food product in a microwave oven. In some instances, microwave susceptor materials have beein incorporated into cooking packages and containers for the foods to enhance browning or crisping. New product formulations for foods may also include special spice or bread coatings or sauces which can be combined with meat products to provide an appetizing product when the meat product is cooked by microwave, even in the absence of browning or crisping. The packaged products might include, for example, a suitable microwave cooking package and a sauce or spice mixture to which the consumer adds a meat product. The sauce or spice mixture and the meat product are combined in the microwave cooking package, and the entire package is placed in the microwave oven.
It has now been found that the bags disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 126,366, U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,844 may be modified and conveniently utilized for microwave cooking of not only popcorn but also other foods to be cooked by microwave.